IT as an advantage
As the company grew bigger with more orders, technology helped us maintain consistency and deliver quality services. Our response was quick. It helped us build good relations with the customer, and also enabled the customers to take quick decision and provided timely orders for Pragati, says Ramakrishna.

"We looked at IT in a strategic way, while others looked at it as a business enabler and a business driver. Our challenge of how to do business with IT was met. IT has made us more competitive," he adds.

Other solutions
Pragati has complex technologies in place. The Print ERP subsequently evolved into a robust web-based  platform. Despite having in-house tools, we went in for SAP implementation last year. I saw the business was expanding and wanted to make sure that this solution served as a lifeline to Pragati. From idea to realization, I wanted the turn around to be quick. The management too supporterde in our initiative to have the best industry-standard ERP. The small initiative we took in 1993 finally culminated into a SAP implementation in 2008," he adds. 

Job Tracking: Customers can track the production status of the print project online using the unique tracking number  provided to them as soon as the order is confirmed.

The year ahead
"This year went well ofr us. We did not see much of an impact due to slowdown in the quarter that ended now. We may see a slight dip in the coming quarter, say by around 15 percent. Because of overall gloom in the rest of the industry, we are seeing decline in our orders as well. We spend two to three percent on IT from our overall budget. However, there will not be any cut in our IT spend next year as we  still feel that IT is a key driver for our business," adds Ramakrishna.